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Possible Kain
Cooler.
Highs in the mid-50s.
Lows of 40.
THIS ISSUE
Copyright © 1999 Forsyth County News
Egg Commission
shares winter warmth.
Page6A
South boys move up
7-AA ladder.
Page IB
»
LAKE LANIER LEVELS
Date Level
Jan. 10 1063.06 ft
b Jan. 11 1063.07 ft
Jan. 12 1063.07 ft
Jan. 13 1063,07 ft
Normal 1070.00
-J ’ UtolWlM z '7 L'/
Editorial cartoonist’s
view on the news.
Page7A
INDEX
Abby. 5A
diuFctr brief 5...........
Classifieds ff
Community 4A
Deaths 2A
Entertainment.......... IC
Events 4A
Opinion - .7A
Horoscope 5A
Sports-JI IB
COMING
SUNDAY
Picking a Tune*
Roy Westray - making music in
and around Forsyth County - is
featured in Sunday's Forsytn Life.
WHssed paper policy:
For a replacement paper call
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Thursday and Friday, and 9 a.m. -1
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Forsyth CountyNmvs
J Your "Hometown Paper" Sine daSgs 1 . 30 PAPER PROJE ct
GE ffivERSITY OF GEORGIA
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Vol. 90, No. 8
Redistricting on the
horizon as student
population strains
school facilities
By Laura Lavezzo
Lifestyle Editor
It’s happening again. Build another
school, go through another redistricting,
says the Forsyth County Board of
Education. And at the rate area developers
are building houses in Forsyth County, the
school system is racing to keep up to pro
vide space for children in school facilities.
The population of the county’s school-aged
kids went up another 10 percent just over
the holiday break.
“Every time you ask a school board
member what they are going to do with all
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Photo/Tom Brooks
Work is proceeding at the new Forsyth County elementary school site on James Burgess Road.
Smoke inhalation blamed in
accidental death of resident
By Colby Jones
Staff Writer
The 61-year-old Brandywine
Circle resident who was killed in
a house fire last Tuesday died
from smoke inhalation, autopsy
results confirmed.
“We have classified it as
caused by careless smoking,”
said Fire Marshal Steve
Anderson.
Firefighters found Darrell
Sams dead in his recliner the
morning of Jan. 5. Authorities
said he suffered from Lou
Gehrig’s disease and was unable
to escape as flames consumed
his living room. Sheetrock most
likely prevented the fire from
1
High Cotton in
Cumming-It's
the (business) life
By Roxane Campbell
Associate Editor
When Jay Fbxworthy says his brother, Jeff, is some
one he’s “proud to be associated with," it means more
than just the typical older sibling admiration. Jay, the
younger Fbxworthy brother by five and a half years, is
one of two owners of High Cotton, a T-shirt screen print
ing shop Os which Jeff Foxworthy is “our best customer,”
Fox worthy said.
See COTTON, Page 2A
these kids, they say ‘talk to the commission
ers,”’ who keep approving zoning for fur
ther development, says one parent from the
north end of the county. Although the num
ber of portable classrooms has decreased by
150 since last year at this time (mostly due
to the opening of Piedmont Learning
Center, Vickery Creek Middle School and
the newest facility for South Forsyth Middle
School), the constant population growth is
forcing the school board to respond more
efficiently than ever, and more mobile class
rooms may be in the future at various school
sites.
The newest education facility going up is
spreading to other areas, said
Public Safety Director Miles
Butler.
Sams’ son, Michael, was
asleep in a bedroom on the
opposite side of the house and
was awakened by a smoke detec
tor. Witnesses said he ran out the
front door barefoot and scream
ing, then peered into the living
room at his father’s lifeless body.
He told a neighbor his father had
been smoking in the living room.
Michael Sams was treated for
smoke inhalation at Baptist
North Hospital and released the
same day.
The father and son were the
only ones in the house at the
time.
FRIDAY JANUARY 15,
90-day window opened for lawsuit
By Colby Jones
Staff Writer
Former Sheriff’s Office
employee Kelly Anderson, who
leveled discrimination charges
against the department more than a
year ago, has 90 days to pursue her
claim in federal court.
Anderson filed a sex discrimi
nation complaint with the federal
Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission in December of 1997.
The EEOC found Anderson’s com
plaint to be legitimate, but was
unable to reach a settlement
between the two parties.
The commission later forward
ed its findings to the U.S.
Department of Justice, which
informed the county Monday it
Photo/Roxane Campbell
Silk screen presses are buzzing at High Cotton, now relocated in Cumming.
IfllllO • 111 "'I ■
Photo/T om Brooks
Parents getting involved: Whitney Oakes and mom Andrea worked together on
crafts at Coal Mountain Elementary’s December parent/child workshop.
an elementary school located near Hwy. 20
East on James Burgess Road. Although the
school hasn’t been named yet, a committee
led by school board member Sherry
Sagemiller has been orga
nized to the
task. More importantly, a
district line committee
met for the first time
Monday evening at the
office of the school board.
One parent, a teacher and
an administrator from
each of the 19 county
schools have been dele
gated to redistribute ele
mentary students to the
James Burgess school.
Children will likely be
drawn from the elemen
taries nearest the nevi
location: Big Creek
Elementary, at 1994
Peachtree Parkway;
Daves Creek Elementary
located at 3740 Trammel
Road; and Mashburr
Elementary, located ai
3777 Samples Road.
Committee members
were divided into three
discussion groups for the
duration of the redistrict
ing process, which should
last at least a month.
Former Sheriff’s employee claims discrimination
will not file a lawsuit on
Anderson’s behalf. That letter
opens a 90-day window in which
Anderson can file suit against the
county on her own.
On Wednesday, Anderson con
firmed she plans to pursue her
claim well within the filing win
dow and referred further questions
to her attorney, Robert Shaker.
The EEOC ruled in September
“it is more likely than not” that
Anderson was denied promotion
and harassed because of her sex,
then discharged for opposing dis
criminatory practices.
The former deputy claims she
was unfairly passed over for pro
motion in August 1997 and trans-
Formed without regard to geographic repre
sentation, each subgroup consists of a good
mix of principals, parents and teacher vol
unteers as a means to avoid one-sided deci
sion-making. Several members on the 1999
committee were involved in last year’s
aedistricting for the new Vickery Creek
Middle School, and some of them had expe
rience prior to that - filling Daves Creek
and Vickery Creek elementary schools
when they were new.
School board members agree they want
children in the same subdivision attending
the same school - this is the one mandatory
guideline they gave the district line commit
tee. Board members Eddie Taylor and Paul
Kreager were present for the first committee
meeting.
“Do we have to redistrict each year? If
we build a new school every year, then the
answer is yes,” said Kreager. “You can’t just
build a new school and hope it fills up with
new residents - you have to pull kids from
other schools.”
“If we could say where the growth is
going to be - and it be there - we could plan
accordingly,” said Superintendent Dr.
Allene Magill. But this is not a realistic
approach, Magill explained, because new
housing developments are going up all over
the county. The growth is everywhere,
although it’s worse in some areas than oth
ers.
See SCHOOL, Page 2A
ferred into the communications
department from her position as a
School Resource Officer.
“(E]xamination of the evidence
indicates that Charging Party
scored higher than four of the five
male candidates for promotion on
the selection board. Subsequently,
three of the male deputies that she
outscored were promoted and
Charging Party was not,” states the
EEOC ruling.
The Sheriff’s Office contends
Anderson was being groomed for
promotion to supervisor, but volun
tarily resigned after being coun
seled for her poor attitude and per-
See LAWSUIT, Page 2A
New study
will address
urban sprawl
By Jim RHey .
Staff Writer
In a press conference sched
uled for today at the Georgia
Capitol, four studies commis
sioned by the Turner Foundation
will be released. The studies deal
with urban sprawl and its impact
on the quality of life for metro
Atlanta residents.
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See SPRAWL, Page 2A
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